Stroke Risk Could Be Lessened by Mediterranean Diet

Women aged 40 years and older could reduce their stroke risk by following a Mediterranean-style diet, according to the results of a recent study.

The benefits, however, were not observed in men.

While previous research has shown that following a Mediterranean-style diet could have protective effects for stroke, little information on how this effect could differ by sex or cardiovascular disease risk status is available.

The researchers used 7-day dietary diaries to examine this association further. They conducted an observational prospective population-based cohort study of 23,232 men and women aged 40 to 77 years from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer study in Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Over 17 years of follow-up, 2009 incident strokes occurred. The risk of stroke was significant reduced with greater adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet (quartile 4 versus quartile 1 hazard ratio [HR] 0.83) in the whole population and in women (quartile 4 versus quartile 1 HR) but not in men (quartile 4 versus quartile 1 HR).

While the researchers also observed a reduced risk of stroke in participants at high risk of cardiovascular disease, it was driven by the association in women.

“Greater adherence to the MD was associated with lower risk of stroke in a UK white population. For the first time in the literature, we also investigated the associations between the MD score in those at both low and high risk of cardiovascular disease. Although the findings in our study were driven by the associations in women, they have implications for the general public and clinicians for prevention of stroke.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Paterson KE, Myint PK, Jennings A, et al Mediterranean diet reduces risk of incident stroke in a population with varying cardiovascular disease risk profiles [published online September 20, 2018]. Stroke. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.020258.